u/sonofalando

Hey all you IT managers. I’ve been out of the game for a bit. I was a IT manager for a few years and now work more on the vendor side. I’m curious, what’s the costs looking like for basic business equipment like laptops and such with the shortages going on, and how are you managing these increases? I saw a post saying 32GB of ram is now going for almost $600 so I’m curious how businesses are funding EOL and renewal of hardware?

Are you cutting elsewhere and if so where? Is this even sustainable at this point? Extending HW lifecycle?

In my last role before things got as bad as they are now I already moved our refreshes up to 7 years with a 5 year option if someone wanted to specifically ask for a refresh, but it was a broke government agency so I didn’t have a choice.

My father had FSHD and I was diagnosed in early 2025. I’m 40 now and this is my wife and i’s chance to have a baby given we are up there. We started trying and she knew I had it and the rate of inheritance. We both decided not to bother with a bunch of genetic testing, but does that make me a bad person? Will my child resent me?

She’s 15 weeks along and ultrasound is on Monday. I can still walk and do most things. Mostly back pain and fatigue if I stand for a long time throughout the day.

“We are going to run out of overhead bin space”

— literally every flight I’ve flown on in the last 6 months.

Meanwhile you board and there’s 50 over head bins open 🤡🤡🤡

Passengers are not idiots. We have eyeballs 😂

Edit: sitting in the terminal C since 630am and literally every departing flight is announcing running out of overhead bin space 💀

I’m being recruited for what I presume is an AI security SE at Lakera. Looks like they were bought by checkpoint.

I currently work in as an SE for a major vendor and I support both SASE and AI security which is a large domain to cover and to be expected to be an SME in both with the fast changing product landscape so I’ve considered making the shift to a domain of focus. Curious if anyone has experience at Lakera or checkpoint in general?

I bought a volkswagen 2023 id4 pro and only realized after driving it off the lot the front windshield is likely tinted.

The dealer looked at it and offered to have it inspected and removed if it is. After googling AI seems to give big caution flags about the watery mess removing tint can cause damaging electronics for a front windshield. The dealership said they’d hire a company to do it for them or a vendor they work with. Now I’m debating whether I should just keep the tint.

What would you guys do? I’m in Washington state so pretty sure front tint is illegal. It’s not super super dark tint but noticeable inside.

I know none of you are fortune tellers, but just generally nervous with all the inflation, and the AI debts that companies are drowning in. I have around 330k home equity and 1.1m invested 90% stocks and 10% mixed bonds. Most of my 90% is low expense ratio index funds mix of mid cap and heavy in S&P focused funds.

Wondering if now makes sense to rebalance to bonds more so. I’m 40 years old. Married and found out baby is on the way about 9 weeks pregnant.

Interest rate in house is 2.5% and I owe around 346k. No debt, or car payments. Annual spend right now is around 70k but I’m sure that will go up with new baby. Wife will quit job when baby is born so we’ll lose her 52k salary and insurance so I’ll absorb 400 more a month to add them both to my insurance. I make around $210k to $230k a year depending on commissions. Of the 1.1m I have around 103k saved in VMFXX high yield for rainy day

My wife is maybe 8-9 weeks pregnant. She works in her feet all day. Today she came home and noticed her ankles were swelled up. I googled and most things say edema. Is this normal? She said they were only slightly painful. This is the first pregnancy. She’s 37 and I’m 40. Wife is 5’ 6’ about 165 lbs generally healthy.

She’s been to the doctor on Tuesday for another checkup, and was in urgent care for a finger cut last week so trying to avoid dragging her to the doctor if this is not urgent. No one raised alarms about blood pressure.

The OB appointment disappointingly is all the way out to July first since her OB retired. We scheduled this almost 2 weeks ago and her dr. Didn’t seem to be able to find someone who can see her sooner. We searched around and it seems impossible to get timely care at this point for the OB or midwife stuff.

Elevating things seemed to help this evening.

My wife is maybe 8-9 weeks pregnant. She works in her feet all day. Today she came home and noticed her ankles were swelled up. I googled and most things say edema. Is this normal? She said they were only slightly painful. This is the first pregnancy. She’s 37 and I’m 40.

I’m in my first SE role. Was post sales support leadership and an engineer before that for about 11 years. I just hit 1 year and 2 months at my current role.

At what point am I considered to be seasoned enough to move to another company or if I were somehow laid off am I considered experienced enough now to be taken seriously?

Is my first year after 6 months ramp I closed about 2m in total contract new business not counting upsells and expansions. I’m in mid market/semi enterprise not really defined segment working for a cybersecurity vendor.

I have 1.4m in assets but I spend literally nothing except essentials and a bit extra than usual for food. Feel like I need to open my wallet more or I’ll die with loads of cash and no expeiences I’m literally afraid to spend money. 🥺

Im 40 and have diabetes type 2 and a form of muscular dystrophy called FSHD. Married. I earned these assets from nothing. No inheritance, nothing. I’m HCOL in Washington State. Low interest loan 2.5% owe around 346k 5 years in. No debt except mortgage. Salary around 260k but prior to this year my top end salary was 140k I got lucky and landed a dream role.

How do you get over this as you charge toward fire? I feel extra pressure with my disability though I can still walk pretty well.

I can go up to a little over $1000. I game and listen to music mostly so like Trebal and bass. It’s for home use. I’m in the Seattle area. I have Sundara currently. I like its nice soundstage.

I’ve maintained the course of contributing and maxing my wife and I’s 401k, but the headwinds seem insurmountable and someone is going to have to pay for all of this. Is there anywhere safe or are we all on the roller coaster to the poor house and we haven’t fallen off the highest point of the coaster yet?

Just reached 1.4m net worth. Thinking about early retirement with my wife in the next few years. I’m 40 now. Seems like median net worth in a lot of areas is under 40k of course health care costs also need consideration.

What towns do you recommend? I live in PNW south of Seattle. I’m in a suburban community today so not right in downtown closer to the foothills.